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Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Kalyn's Perfect Recipe for Taco Salad (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Kalyn's Perfect Taco Salad is something I make over and over; this salad is so simple and good!

Do you love trying new foods, or do you have old favorites that you eat over and over again? If you said both things are true, then maybe you're suited for the life of a food blogger! When you're writing a food blog about recipes, you need to frequently keep coming up with something new to try it for the blog. On the other hand, even the most adventurous food blogging cook probably has things they make over and over again.

Kalyn's Perfect Taco Salad is one of my standby lunches, and this favorite taco salad is something I could probably eat every day for weeks before I'd get tired of it. Of course everyone who likes taco salads has their own taco salad preferences, and I'm pretty emphatic about mine. Chips aren't even something I think of any more when someone says taco salad, but don't try taking away my ranch dressing! I also like to use a seasoned mixture of lean ground beef and black beans, simmered together with some cumin, chile powder, and ground chipotle chile powder (or use Kalyn's Taco Seasoning mix).

I like to make a double or triple batch of this mixture and keep it in the freezer, so I can get that taco salad fix whenever I need it. And Kalyn's Perfect Taco Salad is always on the menu at my house whenever I'm doing phase one or focusing on more carb-conscious eating for a few weeks. You can leave out the black beans if you want even lower carbs, or use the Slow Cooker Browns-in-the-Crockpot Spicy Ground Beef if you'd like it a little spicier. But if you like taco salad, try my way of making taco salad and see if it seems like a perfect lunch to you.

Brown the ground beef until it's nicely browned, then add the seasonings and cook a few minutes more. When the meat is well browned, add black beans, Spike Seasoning, chile powder, cumin, and chipotle chile powder with two cups water. Let simmer until nearly all the water has evaporated.

Wash and spin dry lettuce of your choice (I like romaine for this.) Mix the lettuce with 2-3 T ranch dressing or dressing of your choice. Add desired amount of the meat/bean mixture and diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes and gently combine, then sprinkle grated cheese over the top of the salad. Just delicious!

And here's the original photo of Kalyn's Perfect Taco Salad from back in 2008, not bad at all for those days!

Kalyn's Perfect Taco Salad
(Makes enough meat/bean mixture for 4-5 salads. I recommend doubling the amount of meat/beans and freezing it so you can have taco salads in your future!)

Dump can of black beans into a colander in the sink, then rinse with cold water until no more foam appears. (This removes some of the undigestible carbohydrates that can make beans hard to digest.) Let drain while you cook meat.

Heat olive oil in large heavy frying pan, then add ground beef, breaking apart with your fingers as you add to the pan. Cook beef over medium high heat until well browned, breaking apart with metal turner as it cooks.

When beef is browned, add rinsed beans, Spike Seasoning, chile powder, cumin, Chipotle chile powder, and water and simmer until nearly all water is evaporated. Let cool slightly before using on salad. (This can be made ahead and frozen. To use after freezing, thaw and then reheat for a couple of minutes in a microwave.)

To assemble salad, put lettuce in large plastic bowl and toss with desired amount of dressing. Add slightly warm beef/bean mixture and diced tomatoes and olives and gently toss. Arrange on serving plate and sprinkle with grated cheese.

The meat/bean mixture freezes very well, so I highly recommend making a double or triple batch of this if you have the freezer space. And if you come to my house, this is something I will always have in the freezer!

South Beach/Low-Carb Diet Suggestions:
All the ingredients here are low on the glycemic index, so this could be eaten for any phase of the South Beach Diet. However, for South Beach it's best to use low-fat ground beef, low-fat cheese, and a dressing without too much fat, because the combined fat in the meat, cheese, olives, and mayonnaise could make it a pretty high-fat salad. For lower carbs, you can omit the beans.

Nutritional Information?
I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

More Taco-ish Salads to Try:
(Recipes from other blogs not always South Beach Diet or Low-Carb friendly; check ingredients.)

Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

I have a huge pot of black beans cooking on the stove right now -- deliberately more than I need for today, so there will be some left for soup and salads just like this one. I did the beans in a slow cooker (18 hours on low), and they came out really well. Now I'm finishing on the stovetop with a bit stronger sofrito at the end.

Wow! This is kismet (and it's been happening to me a quite a few times recently!) I just bought ranch dressing (never bought it before)and I've been stockpiling black beans to make the brownie listed below!

You're right kalyn, I definitely have those dishes I keep coming back to - but then I am endlessly thinking of new ones too, maybe that's why I'm a food blogger! Your taco salad looks delicious, I don't think I've ever eaten one!

I have a salad I call tex mex which is similar with corn chips but it is interesting to see there is a whole genre of this style of salad - seems a great meal in a bowl salad! I like your comment about blogging being about revising favourites and discovering the new! So true!

This will be delicious for my dad's wife who is currently on Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. I was having problems figuring out what to make her for our Fourth of July picnic today and this fits perfectly! Thank you so much.

jb, After every recipe where it says "South Beach Suggestions" it tells what phase the recipe is suitable for. I edited this recipe to make it more clear that this can be eaten for all phases, with some caution in using low fat ground beef and cheese. Thanks for letting me know it wasn't that clear.

I made this exactly as you wrote it Kalyn..It was fabulous,I happened to have all the ingredients,even the Hidden Valley dressing mix. It was all a winner! (and to think I almost used the taco mix instead,This is way better)Thanks~abunch;o)

This is on my stove cooking RIGHT NOW and it smells fantastic! I can't wait to put it on a salad later this week (I'm trying to cook ahead when I have the time). Thanks for all of your great recipes! Your website is really, really, REALLY helpful to me right now (I'm in my 7th week on South Beach).

Taco salad is one of my favorite lunches, too! For dressing, I just mix some (sugar-free) salsa and some sour cream or Greek yogurt; about half and half. Avocado is a nice addition, too, if I have it on hand.

Made the taco salad for lunch yesterday and brought some for lunch today. Simple and delicious as was the tuna salad. I also made the parmesan chicken last night – another winner. Honestly, every single recipe I have tried from Kalyn’s Kitchen has been excellent. I continue to make the cauliflower au gratin once a week as a reward for my son doing SB with me. Love Kalyn’s Kitchen.

I've been making my own taco salad for years and love it, but was open to trying Kalyn's version, since her recipes are fabulous. This one did not disappoint!!! Let's just say I won't be making my version again - this was soooooo yummy!!! For south beach friendly, I probably ate WAY too much of it and put way too much sour cream, but it was so worth it!

This was fantastic! We're back on the SB diet, so this was very satisfying. I did mash an avocado, added chopped cilantro and garnished the salad with it. (I backed off the cheese and dressing... So I think it was still legal.)

Hi Kalyn, I've made this a million times, but for some reason couldn't figure out this time what to do with the Spike Seasoning? I added it to the beef and bean mix, but it doesn't specifically say that- is that correct? Thank you! LOVE this recipe, one of my faves!

Amanda, I must have had a brain freeze when I wrote this. Yes, it gets added to the meat when it simmers. I will edit right now. Glad you have enjoyed it. I eat this for lunch at least once or twice nearly every week!

Taco salad is a favorite here too. Love it in the summer when tomatoes are so wonderful. If you ever want a change from the ranch dressing (I know, I know you love it so) we do a mix of half vinaigrette and half pace salsa shaken together. It's really yummy.

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